A number of years ago, a retiring Special Forces commander was being interviewed for a television program and he was asked the following question: “Are you concerned that your troops are becoming too technologically dependent?”

My Dad would speak of mechanical sympathy; the idea that you needed to understand how a machine worked to operate it efficiently and to maximise its operational life. For driving, it was listening to the engine, not braking too hard, and using the gears appropriately.

In the last article What’s what in 2020 with AV, I indicated that there were two big players to watch; Waymo and Tesla. This article is about Waymo and their history and will lay the foundation for the next article.

Last year I posted a series of articles about road authorities and their responsibilities in supporting autonomous vehicles followed by a breakdown of the SAE’s Levels of Autonomy and why we should just stop thinking like that. It is so 201x-ish.